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Sonic Riders (GC) - IGN review

Monorojo

Banned
http://cube.ign.com/articles/691/691032p1.html

Closing Comments
Sonic Riders has its moments and I think that some diehard fans of SEGA's mascots will be able to appreciate these instances more than anybody else. Whizzing forward at a fast jaunt, catching some air, landing into a turbulence system and blazing along can be a fun and entertaining undertaking. Meanwhile, purists looking for a big selection of characters and a new Sonic storyline, although thing, will definitely find both waiting for them in this new racer. Sonic Team has with Riders cut out the tedious exploration elements found in previous hedgehog outings and instead tried for a game almost entirely centered on rollercoaster thrills and speed – and I admire that.

But some silly and unnecessary design choices remain. Sonic is one of the fastest videogame mascots alive, so why has he been made to ride a sluggish snowboard in this new racer? I could forgive this were it not for the fact that Riders is neither as fast as a game like F-Zero GX, nor as tight or deep as a snowboarder like SSX. It lacks the beauty of both aforementioned racers, too. What we're left with is a game that arrives as a mildly enjoyable alternative to better offerings – and likely one that only unrelenting fans will be able to celebrate.

6.2

Xbox/Ps2 versions scored the same.

I wasnt expecting too much from it anyway, but 6.2 is flat out suck.
 
A tad lower than I expected, but aw well. A shame my idiot friend is still going to buy it. :(
 
Remember that Matt & IGNCube hate the Sonic series though.

Sonic Adventure 2: Battle 6.9
Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut 5.0
Sonic Gems Collection 7.5
Sonic Mega Collection 7.5
Sonic Heroes 8.0
 
Teddman said:
Remember that Matt & IGNCube hate the Sonic series though.

Sonic Adventure 2: Battle 6.9
Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut 5.0
Sonic Gems Collection 7.5
Sonic Mega Collection 7.5
Sonic Heroes 8.0

How the hell did Sonic Heroes score better than Sonic Adventure 2?

Well... at least Sonic Rush was awesome. *sigh* I guess I'll need to wait for next-gen to get my console Sonic fix.
 
How does this compare to Sonic R?

I'm still interested in this one, IIRC Sonic R didn't do all that well and had points deducted for it's soundtrack (which I admit to enjoying). :P
 
Teddman said:
Remember that Matt & IGNCube hate the Sonic series though.

Sonic Adventure 2: Battle 6.9
Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut 5.0
Sonic Gems Collection 7.5
Sonic Mega Collection 7.5
Sonic Heroes 8.0

Um, they hate the Sonic series for giving them scores they (pretty much) deserve? Considering your avatar, it's pretty obvious where you come from. :P

While you could argue the SA2 and SADX scores are too low, the fact is they have way too many HORRIBLE problems that while we put up with them on the Dreamcast, they have ALREADY aged badly. One of the worst cameras in a 3D platformer EVER. Useless and unfun characters you're forced to play as that take up over half of the game.

I actually feel their Heroes score is too high. It had a lot of problems, but it at least didn't have any of the stupid "find the emerald" or fishing or whatever gameplay modes.

As far as the Gems and Mega Collections go, a 7.5 is the perfect score for Gems. Why? There's only one Gem on it: Sonic CD. Fighters is fun, but nothing you'll play after you play through a couple times. Sonic R was fun on Saturn, but hasn't aged that well and is incredibly short. Plus, they ignored Knuckles Chaotix and while it wasn't great, would have fit perfectly and made the package a better value overall.

As for Mega Collection, I personallty think that was a bit too low (8.5 for me), but let's face it: Sonic games don't age that well.

Keyser Soze said:
Sonic Rush was not that bad

wasn't bad at all*

It's the best Sonic game since Sonic 3.
 
What have they done with the F-Zero engine?!?!?!????

Teddman said:
Remember that Matt & IGNCube hate the Sonic series though.

Sonic Adventure 2: Battle 6.9
Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut 5.0
Sonic Gems Collection 7.5
Sonic Mega Collection 7.5
Sonic Heroes 8.0
While that's the score for Heroes is high, what is wrong with the rest of them?
 
jj984jj said:
What have they done with the F-Zero engine?!?!?!????

While that's the score for Heroes is high, what is wrong with the rest of them?
People are under the impression that there has been a good Sonic game on consoles this generation. Unfortunantly, they're wrong.
 
I <3 Katamari said:
Um, they hate the Sonic series for giving them scores they (pretty much) deserve? Considering your avatar, it's pretty obvious where you come from. :P
C'mon, the SA2 Battle score is a travesty. I remember Matt & Fran defending the score on messageboards back in the day and it was obvious the Sonic hate was strong in them. But they sure do love them Mario mascot games...
 
Teddman said:
C'mon, the SA2 Battle score is a travesty. I remember Matt & Fran defending the score on messageboards back in the day and it was obvious the Sonic hate was strong in them. But they sure do love them Mario mascot games...

Mario Baseball's 7.9 begs to differ.
 
Teddman said:
C'mon, the SA2 Battle score is a travesty. I remember Matt & Fran defending the score on messageboards back in the day and it was obvious the Sonic hate was strong in them. But they sure do love them Mario mascot games...
Perhaps the Mario games are better than the Sonic ones? ;)
 
Teddman said:
C'mon, the SA2 Battle score is a travesty. I remember Matt & Fran defending the score on messageboards back in the day and it was obvious the Sonic hate was strong in them. But they sure do love them Mario mascot games...
Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix - 8.0
Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour - 8.0
Mario Kart: Double Dash!! - 7.9
Mario Party 4 - 6.9
Mario Party 5 - 7.9
Mario Party 6 - 7.0
Mario Party 7 - 7.0
Mario Power Tennis - 8.5
Mario Superstar Baseball - 7.9
Super Mario Strikers - 7.6

What?
 
Teddman said:
C'mon, the SA2 Battle score is a travesty. I remember Matt & Fran defending the score on messageboards back in the day and it was obvious the Sonic hate was strong in them. But they sure do love them Mario mascot games...

No, it isn't a travesty. The ONLY awesome part of the game is the Sonic/Shadow stages and the camera is a piece of shit.

How is that deserving of anything above that score?

And uh, how about you look at all their Mario scores. The Sega fanboy grows strong within you.

(Oh yeah, and Mario games are better.)
 
Fuzzy said:
Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix - 8.0
Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour - 8.0
Mario Kart: Double Dash!! - 7.9
Mario Party 4 - 6.9
Mario Party 5 - 7.9
Mario Party 6 - 7.0
Mario Party 7 - 7.0
Mario Power Tennis - 8.5
Mario Superstar Baseball - 7.9
Super Mario Strikers - 7.6

What?

mind you that i havent played it( played the others though)but all my friends seem to agree that mp 5 is the more boring of the mp games, and it got a 7.9? ddr mario mix gets a 8? come now, theres something wrong with those scores.....
 
Let Nintendo handle the next Sonic game, please.

Sega has lost alot of crediblity to me and I'm a big time SEGA fan. They need to find more quality talent somehow and fast.
 
Considering how inaccurate IGN's scores have been on other games listed in this thread, why should Sonic Riders be any different?
 
Sonic's suffering the same fate as Castlevania. Take it to 3D, it sucks. Leave it all 2D, it's actually pretty good.

Fuck all this 3D shit. Sonic Team needs to craft a 2D Sonic game and see what happens.

They also need to stop concentrating on characters no one gives a shit about.
 
Cheebs said:
Perhaps the Mario games are better than the Sonic ones? ;)

Oh, it can't be that. Sonic games have always been the pinnacle of game design, what with the "RUN REALLY FAST TO THE RIGHT" level structure and all.

(I kid because I tolerate -- really. Sonic 2's versus mode was pure genius, though.)
 
I think the game is fun. I haven't played all the way through it just yet, so I can't really give it a full-on review just yet.

But I've played it for about 5 hours and beaten it on 'Hero mode' and I think the game is really fun. It's really fast, the control is responsive(after a while), and its pretty challenging. I'll have to try playing against a friend to see how 2 Player mode is.

It's definitely a 'try before buy' game though, as the controls take a little getting used to(nothing a quick poke in the manual can't fix, though).

Edit: PS: Never write a game off because of a review on a website or magazine. Always try to rent or play demos of games to get a good impression. A review is one man's opinion, and as seen in many instances, can be very biased.
 
stewy said:
Sonic's suffering the same fate as Castlevania. Take it to 3D, it sucks. Leave it all 2D, it's actually pretty good.

Fuck all this 3D shit. Sonic Team needs to craft a 2D Sonic game and see what happens.

They also need to stop concentrating on characters no one gives a shit about.

amen to that. im tired of seeing new characters, when they havent fleshed out the older ones( big the cat, the entire chaotix team, ray the squirrel, etc)
 
SonicMegaDrive said:
I think the game is fun. I haven't played all the way through it just yet, so I can't really give it a full-on review just yet.

But I've played it for about 5 hours and beaten it on 'Hero mode' and I think the game is really fun. It's really fast, the control is responsive(after a while), and its pretty challenging. I'll have to try playing against a friend to see how 2 Player mode is.

It's definitely a 'try before buy' game though, as the controls take a little getting used to(nothing a quick poke in the manual can't fix, though).

Edit: PS: Never write a game off because of a review on a website or magazine. Always try to rent or play demos of games to get a good impression. A review is one man's opinion, and as seen in many instances, can be very biased.

I have to say, I'm talking to two people on IRC right now (one of which I definitely trust with his game opinions, most of the time), and they're both telling me IGN is pretty much full of shit on this one. That the game is not amazing, but definitely pretty good.

One of them is telling me the controls are a little weird and take a while to get used to, but that IGN is -completely- off on the gameplay.

I should definitely give the game a try.
 
SonicMegaDrive said:
Edit: PS: Never write a game off because of a review on a website or magazine. Always try to rent or play demos of games to get a good impression. A review is one man's opinion, and as seen in many instances, can be very biased.
QFTT

While the voice acting and the in-game cutscenes may suck total ass, the rest of the game does not. It's not spectacular, but it's certainly a unique and fun game. It's not SSX SONIC STYLE or F-ZERO SONIC but something completely different, which at first is totally awkward but after a couple races is really fun. The game is at least a rental, and I hope nobody actually bases their game purchases based off of IGN reviews!
 
Poor UGA... is the game really that bad? It looked way more promising than the last few Sonic platformers we've gotten from Sonic Team USA. :/
 
Again a sign that they should stop making those lame Sonic games. The only one that was really good were the collections but hey, it's because those is good games in there of course.
I wish SEGA wakes up and change their approach completely about 3D Sonic games or i guess we will simply see Sonic disappear...
 
Sonic is diying.

Sega doesn't know how to handle the series anymore. Should lend the series to EA. :D
 
At least Sonic Rush was a blast though, I thoroughly enjoyed that game, so Sonic still rules in my eyes. I'll carefully avoid this though and hope the next gen offerings provide the Sonic experience I crave.
 
Feel the Magic XX/XY
Outrun
Sonic Rush
Virtua Fighter
Virtua Tennis

Seriously. Outside of the titles mentioned above, what entertaining have Sega made within the last three years? I'm not talking about games that are simply published by Sega (Condemned, Gunstar Super Heroes), but games that are actually created by Sega and their direct partners.
 
SonicMegaDrive said:
Okay, anybody here who has actually played the game and not like it?

Let's get some more actual 'impressions' folks.
That's what I'm thinking. Riders looks great from what I've seen and I've still got faith in ex-UGA. :)
 
jarrod said:
That's what I'm thinking. Riders looks great from what I've seen and I've still got faith in ex-UGA. :)

Yeah, I've talked to many folks, and have yet to come across anybody who simply dislikes the game. Granted, they're all Sonic fans, so you have to take that with a grain of salt. But the only complaints I keep hearing are how the controls are hard to figure out at first, the horrid voices, and the slowdown on the PS2 version.
 
From what I played at TGS it just felt a bit barebones. Its just the core of a 'hoverboard racer' and doesnt strive to add anything new to the genre whatsoever. It just feels like an atypical mascot outing with a CPU that seems to always cheat to win. If it wasn't Sonic, I, and I warrant few others, wouldn't be interested.

I'll get to sit down with the game and play through it fully in a day or so (the secret characters that are included are sickening whore-outs in my opinion, compared to the genuinely superb new characters made for Sonic R), so maybe I'll find some hidden depth.
 
Teddman said:
C'mon, the SA2 Battle score is a travesty. I remember Matt & Fran defending the score on messageboards back in the day and it was obvious the Sonic hate was strong in them. But they sure do love them Mario mascot games...

Seeing as how the Gameranking score for SA2 Battle is 72% I think you should really STFU on this subject. I hate IGN as much as the next guy but your just being stupid in this case. EVERYONE gave that game bad scores not just IGN.
 
Sonic Rush redeemed the franchise for a little longer, but Sega needs to stop crapping on their key mascot.

Sonic on Xbox 360 looks pretty cool.
 
When is the last time Sonic Team has made a GOOD game? :( All the 2D sonic's are by Dimps so those don't count.

Samba De Amigo.. and that was half a decade ago. I wonder if they can still do a well designed and polished game. The last one I played was Feel the Magic and it was pretty horrible.
 
Cheebs said:
When is the last time Sonic Team has made a GOOD game? :( All the 2D sonic's are by Dimps so those don't count.

PSO Episode III: CARD. When was the last time they made a good *Sonic* game? Uhmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... Sonic 3?
 
mr jones said:
Feel the Magic XX/XY
Outrun
Sonic Rush
Virtua Fighter
Virtua Tennis

Seriously. Outside of the titles mentioned above, what entertaining have Sega made within the last three years? I'm not talking about games that are simply published by Sega (Condemned, Gunstar Super Heroes), but games that are actually created by Sega and their direct partners.
Blood Will Tell
Yakuza
F-Zero GX
Astroboy: Omega Factor (co-developed by Sega's Hitmaker w/ Treasure)


Also, Sonic Team definitely did do Sonic Rush, even if Dimps helped out in some capacity. There's a reason it's so much better than the Advance games.
 
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